Four distinct stages of human language evolution are suggested by clustering of speech and language comprehension abilities in individuals with language deficits

Four distinct stages of human language evolution are suggested by clustering of speech and language comprehension abilities in individuals with language deficits | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Four distinct stages of human language evolution are suggested by clustering of speech and language comprehension abilities in individuals with language deficits Andrey Vyshedskiy, Rohan Venkatesh, Edward Khokhlovich This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4144440/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Use of syntactic language is a unique characteristic of humans. Following the split of human line from chimpanzee line around six million years ago some individuals acquired genetic modifications that enabled certain linguistic abilities. Over time these mutations were fixed in the human population and currently enable modern human syntactic communication. Inevitably, in some modern individuals, language-critical genes regress to their ancestral functionality causing partial loss of language abilities. Population studies of individuals with language deficits reveal language phenotypes that may correspond to stages of language evolution. Previously, we discovered three distinct language-comprehension-phenotypes: 1) individuals in the command-language-comprehension-phenotype were limited to comprehension of simple commands; 2) the modifier-language-comprehension-phenotype showed additional comprehension of color, size, and number modifiers; 3) the most-advanced syntactic-language-comprehension-phenotype added comprehension of complex grammatical sentences 1 . In this study we clustered language comprehension skills together with speech abilities in 55,000 individuals-with-language-deficits. We discovered four distinct phenotypes: 1) command-language-comprehension with no-expressive-language; 2) modifier-language-comprehension with single-word-expressive-language; 3) modifier-language-comprehension with single-sentence-expressive-language; 4) syntactic-language-comprehension with multi-sentence-expressive-language. These phenotypes may align with four distinct stages of language comprehension and speech co-evolution. Using homology between neurological mechanisms underlying language and stone-tools-manufacturing we deduce the chronology of language acquisition in our ancestors. Biological sciences/Evolution/Cultural evolution/Evolution of language Biological sciences/Evolution/Anthropology/Biological anthropology language evolution human language evolution recursive language combinatorial language syntactic language human language evolutionary patholinguistics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterial02102024.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4144440","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":294105132,"identity":"038f2847-5a6f-4878-a259-2570deca91db","order_by":0,"name":"Andrey Vyshedskiy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAnklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACNgaGigMghgEpWs6QrIWxjRQtBjfSnz34Oe9OYgN78zYJIrXkmBv2bnuW2MBzrIw4LZIzctgkeLcdTmyQyDEjVkv6M8m/c4Ba5N8QqYVfIsFMmrcBZAsPsVp43phJyxx7ZtzGk1ZsQZQWNnagw97U3JHtZz+88QZRWhgEEqB6iVMOdtkB4tWOglEwCkbBCAUA4zAuYtMp++AAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Boston University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrey","middleName":"","lastName":"Vyshedskiy","suffix":""},{"id":294105133,"identity":"11b02d4a-bce5-4dff-9ef1-70c29e948cb2","order_by":1,"name":"Rohan Venkatesh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Independent researcher","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rohan","middleName":"","lastName":"Venkatesh","suffix":""},{"id":294105134,"identity":"96b46dee-b9f6-488e-9c51-79b16deb2fe6","order_by":2,"name":"Edward Khokhlovich","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Independent researcher","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Edward","middleName":"","lastName":"Khokhlovich","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-21 15:08:43","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4144440/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4144440/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":57058062,"identity":"9dfb16c6-5eec-4fbd-9250-c6bceb1dfd60","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-05-24 05:19:08","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1547741,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ClustersExpressiveReceptive04172024.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4144440/v1_covered_f4721abe-108d-40f8-bf3e-677f4d8af5d1.pdf"},{"id":55170523,"identity":"915db2fe-2a66-4ce6-870b-c89448259055","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-23 15:08:15","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":4530915,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMaterial02102024.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4144440/v1/2ee3478795eee636ee2d3c6e.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Four distinct stages of human language evolution are suggested by clustering of speech and language comprehension abilities in individuals with language deficits","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"language evolution, human language evolution, recursive language, combinatorial language; syntactic language, human language; evolutionary patholinguistics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4144440/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4144440/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUse of syntactic language is a unique characteristic of humans. Following the split of human line from chimpanzee line around six million years ago some individuals acquired genetic modifications that enabled certain linguistic abilities. Over time these mutations were fixed in the human population and currently enable modern human syntactic communication. Inevitably, in some modern individuals, language-critical genes regress to their ancestral functionality causing partial loss of language abilities. Population studies of individuals with language deficits reveal language phenotypes that may correspond to stages of language evolution. 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